Steve 50,

It's just a stupid lump

"I first noticed a lump lump in my left thigh early in 2016. It felt like a bony growth, so I didn't think it was anything to be worried about, just one of those things that happens as you get older. I first saw my GP about it in April, He sent me for an x-ray and an then an ultrasound. No one was sure what it was. They kept asking me if I remembered having an injury in that area. I didn't. I had an MRI scan before being sent for a biopsy at the RNOH at Stanmore. In August 2016 my Dad died from secondaries of kidney cancer. One week after his death I was told that my lump was a soft tissue sarcoma. I was surprised. My wife was distraught. A few weeks later I had surgery to excise the sarcome. I was in a bed opposite one my Dad had occupied when having his diseased femur reconstructed. Over the course of the next few weeks and months I led as active a recovery as I could manage, walking, then cycling, then running. I had radiotherapy over 30 fractions to help prevent recurrence. I am checked every 3 months for metastisis, and so far so good. Every night when I go to bed I check my leg for new lumps. The way I thought about it was that I didn't have cancer, I had a cancerous lump. The lump has gone, I remain. Since then I have changed career to work in radiotherapy. I was overwhelmed by the care I was shown during my treatment, I wanted to be on the other side. Hopefully, now I am. It was a tough time, and every day I worry about it coming, or having spread, but I feel a better, stronger person for having been through this experience, and I recognise how lucky I am to be here. My wife and my children wouldn't let me go. Finally, I'm here for my Dad who had to fight one battle one too many. "

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